30 arrested in countywide drug sweep this month

Charges include drug trafficking and carrying a concealed weapon. Cars, guns and cash are seized.

Nearly 30 people have been arrested this month during a countywide drug sweep that netted $10,000 worth of drugs, including pills, methamphetamine and crack cocaine. Officials expected to arrest more people on Friday night.

Charges for those arrested ranged from trafficking in cocaine to carrying a concealed weapon. The dozens of alleged drug dealers weren't in cahoots with each other, Pasco County Sheriff's Lt. Robert Sullivan said Friday.

But most of the people had something in common, he said.

"The one thing that is incredible about most of these folks is that they weren't too discreet," said Sullivan, who heads the vice and narcotics division for the sheriff's agency. "If you came up to them on the street, they would sell to you."

Some of the suspects, such as Alonzo Craig of Dade City, had his drug clients page him when they needed a fix, Sullivan said.

"He had a good reputation on the east side of the county for the person to get crack from," said Sullivan.

A total of 278 pills, 261/2 grams of crack cocaine, 3 ounces of methamphetamine, 11/2 pounds of marijuana, two handguns, five cars and $1,600 in cash were seized.

In west Pasco, a Port Richey mobile home park at the corner of River Gulf Road and Grand Boulevard -- across the street from the city's Police Department -- was ground-zero for the local drug trade, officials said.

At least eight people were arrested for selling drugs from the park, Sullivan said.

Neighbors who live near the small, crowded park are relieved that officials are trying to clean up the neighborhood.

"It's infested with crack and who knows what else," said one Port Richey man who lives near the park but refused to give his name for fear that drug dealers will harass him and his family. "It's right out in the open. There's no way anyone is going to let their kids walk around this neighborhood."

Officials countywide participated in the sweep, which was funded by a $232,625 state grant given to the local communities but administered by the Sheriff's Office, said sheriff's spokesman Jon Powers.

In addition to undercover officers from the sheriff's agency, police from Port Richey, New Port Richey, Zephyrhills and Dade City helped make the arrests.

There were 16 people arrested in the past three days, said officials, who released those names on Friday. They are: Frances Susan Lohnes, 33, of 7804 Grand Blvd., Apt. 49, Port Richey.